Spring Course Descriptions

Spring 2018 Graduate course descriptions

Introduction to the professional study of history, to the diverse methodological approaches of current historiography, and to the place of historical scholarship in both academic and non-academic spheres. First year graduate students only.

510:509:01 Teaching of History Professor Sarolta Takacs

This course is intended as a workshop for Ph.D. students in history who plan to teach. It is not only about the nuts and bolts of teaching but also about the theory and philosophy of teaching. Working together, we will explore course building: how to structure a class lecture and discussion; how to create assignments; the use of text and non-text sources, technology, digital tools, and pedagogy; building relationships with students; negotiating and shaping the multifaceted politics of the classroom and the university. We will also take an in depth look into the pedagogy of hybrid and online teaching. Students will be asked to prepare materials relevant to teaching their own courses and useful in applying for teaching positions. As a final project, all students will deliver a lecture (40 min.) in their field of expertise while the others will produce a short written evaluation of the lecture, with recommendations for improvement as might be appropriate.

Prospective students who wish to discuss any aspects of the course should contact James Delbourgo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

510:550:01 Seminar in the History of Women Professor Chie Ikeya

Continuation of year long course; no new participants.

510:557:01 Readings in American History II Professor Jackson Lears

This course introduces main currents and important controversies in the recent historiography of the United States in the nineteenth century. It is designed to speed your preparation for qualifying exams, to enrich your sense of materials you will teach in the U.S. history survey, and to help you articulate the ways your dissertations will pose and answer questions that have engaged historians. We will read a few classic texts and several recent monographs—most of them revised dissertations. All of the books listed here appear (or will soon appear) on the Master List of reading for the comprehensive examination--though you do not have to be taking the comprehensives in U. S. History to benefit from the course. Not all have to read in their entirety; parts of some can be skimmed for their argument; and others (I trust) can be savored for their writing as well as their interpretation. I have also included some articles assessing a “state of the field.”

Of course the literature is vast and the “coverage” model is necessarily incomplete. We will try to uncover insights as well as cover interpretations and information. While the syllabus aims to be reasonably comprehensive, it inevitably reflects my own beliefs about what constitute the major themes of nineteenth century U.S. History. So the reading list embodies the common assumption that sectional tensions over slavery and the subsequent Civil War lie at the core of our concerns, but it also embodies the less common assumption that those conflicts were part of a broader history of capitalism—a history historians are only beginning to address explicitly.

Your written and spoken work, I hope, will also expand the reach of the course. Each week one student will be in charge of coming up with discussion questions and circulating them on Sakai the night before class, and another student will present a short (5 pp.) report that extends a major theme raised by the reading (e.g. the market revolution, the construction of collective memory, etc.) beyond what’s listed on the syllabus. The final assignment is a historiographical essay (3000 words) that either deepens the exploration of the questions raised by the report, or embarks (with my advice and consent) in a new direction altogether.

510:560:01 Readings in Women's and Gender History Professor Leah DeVun

This class introduces graduate students to key topics, questions, and debates that have animated the field of women’s and gender history. In keeping with the comparative and global scope of our department’s research interests, we will read both classic and new works in subfields that take up fundamental questions about gender.

510:561:01 Colloquium in American History: US Urban History Professor Lilia Fernandez

This course will explore a variety of texts in the field of US Urban History from more classic works to some of the most recently published monographs. We will pay particular attention to the themes of neighborhood and community formation, economic dynamics, immigration, gender, race, sexuality, and ethnicity. Some of the questions that we will explore: What forces have shaped the development of American cities and how? How have people experienced the city differently based on gender, class, race, immigrant status, and other social categories? What determines how cities have been spatialized and resources allocated to its citizenry?

510:563:01 Colloquium in African American History Professor Erica Armstrong Dunbar

This course has several objectives, the most important of which is to introduce students to the growing field of African American women’s history. Beginning in the 1980s, a small cohort of scholars dug the trenches for the historiography of African American women’s lives. Since then, the scholarship has expanded, and we will explore these contributions over space, place and time. This is a syllabus that focuses on slavery and the first few decades of freedom, the North and the South, and the city and the farm. You will read canonical texts from the 1980s and award-winning monographs written as recently as last year. In this course, we will read black women’s history written by black women historians.

510:571:01 Seminar in American History Professor Dorothy Sue Cobble

This course considers diverse perspectives on the researching and writing of American history. Its aim is to enable students to make substantial progress on an original research project in American history. We begin by discussing the texts inspiring our research and the new turns in historical scholarship we see as promising. Subsequent class sessions alternate between consideration of either student work-in-progress or essays by prominent scholars that illuminate the work of historical analysis, interpretation, and narrative. Students may choose to focus on writing a research paper suitable for presentation at an academic conference, an article for submission to a scholarly journal, or a draft dissertation proposal. Students interested in any era or topic in U.S. History, including transnational or global projects involving the United States, are welcome. For further information, please contact Professor Dorothy Sue Cobble at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

510:573:01 US & African American History Seminar Professor Deborah White

Prospective students who wish to discuss any aspects of the course should contact Deborah White at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

510:599:01 Readings in Modern European History Professor Paul Hanebrink

This is a foundation course for doctoral students in the field of modern European history. Its purpose is to introduce students to some of the key topics, questions, problems, controversies and debates that have characterized this field. The bulk of material in this course is new research (published in the last 5 or 10 years), but we will also discuss some of the prevailing concerns of earlier scholarship as well. This course should help you to prepare for future research, as well as for comprehensive exams in modern European history and for teaching survey courses (like Development of Europe II).

510:603:01 Colloquium in British History Professor Seth Koven

Prospective students who wish to discuss any aspects of the course should contact Seth Koven at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

510:615:01 Seminar in European History Professor Judith Surkis

Prospective students who wish to discuss any aspects of the course should contact Judith Surkis at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

510:637:01 Seminar in Latin American Professor Kathy Lopez

Prospective students who wish to discuss any aspects of the course should contact Kathy Lopez at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..